A DAY OF FERVENT PRAYER THAT MANY SOULS IN PURGATORY … · that day, joined with the prayers of all the Church Triumphant, might avail much to the relief of the Suffering Church;

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FIRST DAY

A DAY OF FERVENT PRAYER THAT MANY SOULS IN PURGATORY MAY BE ADMITTED TO THE

JOYS OF PARADISE

ALL SAINTS—All Souls! It was well done to place thus close together these two beautiful solemnities. There is a

fitness, too, in this season of the fall of the leaf for such a com-memoration of the departed. The flowers and green leaves of May, the yellow harvests and the warm glow of August, would be out of place upon All Souls’ Day. Better to sing this univer-sal Requiem when Nature herself has laid aside the garments of her gladness, when the warm blood of youth is no longer coursing through the earth’s veins, when the very sunshine seems chill and sad, and the wind through the naked branches is a dirge. But at whatever period they come, All Saints Day [November 1] and All Souls Day [November 2] should come together. And they come together, though one might be tempted, in all reverence, to wish that the order of their coming were reversed. If the commemoration of All Souls came first, we might hope that the suffrages of all the Church Militant on that day, joined with the prayers of all the Church Triumphant, might avail much to the relief of the Suffering Church; might procure the discharge of many, perhaps, among the patient vic-tims detained in that prison house of mercy, and so increase the hosts of those honored in the Festival of All Saints. Or is it only

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by a tender afterthought, as it were, that the Church, having rejoiced in the glory of those of her children who have secured their crown in Heaven, turns with affectionate compassion to those others who are not yet there, though they are no longer here, whose earthly fight is over, but whose heavenly happiness is not yet attained? Would that all who are gone were gone to join that multitude which no man can number, thronging the Courts of Heaven! But so many disappoint the yearnings of the Heart of Jesus. So many live and die as if Jesus had not lived and died for them. And even of those who die in the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, how few are found “with the perfect sheen of Heaven upon them”! How few are pure enough, at once, after closing their eyes upon this sinful world, to open them to the full piercing light of glory, to meet, without shrink-ing, the all-discerning Eye of the God of Infinite Purity! And we are living under that same Eye, and we are laboring for that Heaven which the Saints have not earned too dearly, and for which the Holy Souls are not undergoing too severe a prepara-tion. Have we worked and prayed during the past year as if we believed this?

These and other general lessons are urged upon us by the twin feasts with which November opens—if, indeed, the 2nd of November can be called a feast—a more eager longing for the society of the blessed in Heaven, a deeper horror for sin, a keener thirst for the glory of God and for the increase of grace and merit in our own souls, and a more intense reverence for the majesty and holiness of God thus “wonderful in His Saints,” and thus rigid in the purification of the Holy Souls.

But there is for each of these solemnities one peculiar object having its counterpart amongst the objects of the other. As All Saints’ Day may well be supposed to offer compensa-tion to such of the blessed as have no special festival during the year, so the suffrages of All Souls’ Day supply what is wanting

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in the individual charity of the faithful, and may be devoted chiefly to the most neglected of the Holy Souls—those who have no friends to pray for them. No doubt there are many such: some with no loving hearts to cherish their memory—and even the most loving hearts cannot keep up a practical remem-brance of the departed during many years of our short lifetime. The Purgatory of many souls may last very many lifetimes. One who is hardly there now, for he ended a very holy life by a very holy death, said on his deathbed: “Eternity is so long that I think Purgatory must be long, too. You must help me, then, with prayers. Even in religion we are apt to forget our deceased brothers, relying too much on their having died religious.”

Before the month closes which is opening now, may our hearts have grown more pleasing to the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary—more dear to them because more like to them; and, as all belongs to Jesus, let us give to Mary a mother’s share in all the days of our lives, especially in these two sacred days which invite us to love and honor her as Queen of All Saints and Compassionate Mother of the Suffering Souls.

“Ah! turn to Jesus, Mother! turn, And call Him by His tenderest names.Pray for the holy souls that burn This hour amid the cleansing flames.”

—Rev. Matthew Russell, S.J.

On one occasion as the community over which St. Gertrude presided recited the Great Psalter for the souls of the faithful departed, the Saint prepared herself for Holy Communion, and prayed for these souls with great fervor. She then asked Our Lord why this Psalter was so acceptable to Him, and why it obtained such great relief for the souls, since the immense


number of psalms which were recited and the long prayers after each caused more weariness than devotion. Our Lord replied: “The desire which I have for the deliverance of the souls makes it acceptable to Me; even as a prince who had been obliged to imprison one of his nobles to whom he was much attached, and was compelled by his justice to refuse him pardon, would most thankfully avail himself of the intercession and satisfaction of others to release his friend, thus do I act toward those whom I have redeemed by My death and Precious Blood, rejoicing in the opportunity of releasing them from their pains and bring-ing them to eternal joys.” “But,” continued the Saint, “is the labor of those who recite this Psalter acceptable to Thee?” He replied: “My love renders it most agreeable to Me; and if a soul is released thereby, I accept it as if I had been Myself deliv-ered from captivity, and I will assuredly reward this act at a fit-ting time according to the abundance of My mercy.” Then she inquired: “How many souls are released by these prayers?” He answered: “The number is proportioned to the zeal and fervour of those who pray for them.” He added: “My love urges Me to release a great number of souls for the prayers of each religious.”

A short offering which may be made each morning for the souls in Purgatory:

O my God, deign to accept my every thought, word, and action as a loving petition to Thy mercy on behalf of the suf-fering souls in Purgatory, particularly _____. I unite to Thy Sacred Passion the trials and contradictions of this day, which I purpose to bear with patience, in expiation for the sins and infidelities which retain Thy children in the purifying flames of Purgatory. Amen.

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SECOND DAY

A DAY OF SUPPLICATION FOR ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED

THE month of November, with its devotion to the Holy Souls, comes again to remind us of an essential obligation

of charity, binding upon all who care to claim their part in the Communion of Saints—in the great family of Jesus Christ—the elect of God, gathered from East and West. Hearts that truly beat in unison with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary cannot turn away with indifference from that touching cry for help: “Have pity on me! have pity on me! at least you, my friends!” If hitherto we have thought too little of those “who have gone before us with the sign of faith,” if we have been like the rest of men wrapped up in the thought of self, immersed in the trifles of today, forgetful of those whose lives were once closely linked with ours, and should be still, now in the month of the Holy Souls we may “rise to better things,” to truer thoughts of life, to a deeper sense of the value of time, to a fuller understanding of the will of God in our regard, and especially to an appreciation, altogether new, of the solicitous service which the Church Militant on earth owes to the Church Suffering in Purgatory.

Not because in serving others we shall most securely serve ourselves, nor yet because we hope to secure the gratitude of Saints who soon will reign with God in Heaven; but because those who are now in the cleansing fires are of our own flesh and blood, our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we will do what we can to help them from this time forward, regretting if we have been negligent till now. It should be enough for us to know that those who have a claim upon our love are stretching out their hands to us for help, and crying: “Have pity on me! ”


Yet to remember the dead with anything beyond a transient thought is the exception, and to leave them in God’s hands to pay their debt, after making a few feeble efforts to help them in the first days of our bereavement, is the rule. Such conduct is almost as usual as it is unreasonable. Those who thus forget parents and brethren and friends may fear that they will be in their turn forgotten, for God keeps His mercy for the merciful.

While dear friends are with us we flatter ourselves that we love them with a disinterested love; that in doing them good service we are not thinking of ourselves at all; that we are even willing to submit to much inconvenience for their sake. And all the while it is too often our own satisfaction that we seek, even in our self-sacrifice, rendering kind offices, not for sake of the good we do thereby, but for the happiness which accrues to ourselves, as men give alms sometimes from no higher motive than is found in the pleasure of giving. It is not true that all human friendship is thus infected with selfishness, but a great deal of that which looks like the pure gold of charity is not such. The value of our friendship in the present may be estimated by its value in the past. Our treatment of the dead will serve us for the touchstone of the sincerity and purity of our affection. “The heart that has truly loved never forgets.”

Those who once were dearly loved—our playmates in childhood, our chosen companions in later life, who sat at the same table, who knelt at the same shrine, who shared our joys and sorrows, and, it may be, now and again spoke to us of death and eternity, with wondering words about that other world, and who then passed from our sight into that other world—are they remembered now? Do we pray for them or to them? Or are they in good truth, if we must be honest with ourselves, really nothing more to us now than faces that look upon us in a dream? Is their connection with us a reality of our present life, or are they merely creatures of the past, belonging to a


state of things which has vanished from our hearts and minds? According to our answer must be the estimate which we form of the generosity with which we love our friends and help our fellow creatures.

The Holy Souls in Purgatory are unutterably dear to God, because of all the graces and merits they have won and can never lose, and because of the keen sufferings which they are bearing with such heavenly patience in their love of Him, and their desire to be more worthy of Him. The Virgin Mother watches with a mother’s holy anxiety while the last faint traces and shades of sin fade off from each beautiful soul, longing for the moment when all shall be paid, and these her dear children received into their long-expected happiness. St. Joseph, the particular patron of these patient holy ones, is eagerly looking forward to the moment when he may bear his charges into the Father’s bosom. And think you that God and Our Lady and St. Joseph will not love and bless those who by their holy liberality shall hasten that moment which they all so earnestly desire? And when those benefactors shall send their petitions through Purgatory and some dear sufferer shall cry to Heaven, “Grant them what they ask for, for they have done great things for us,” can you think the prayer will be unheard?

See what St. Catherine of Bologna used to say on this sub-ject. “When I wish,” she said, “to obtain some favor from the Eternal Father, I invoke the souls in their place of expiation, and charge them with the petition I have to make to Him, and I feel I am heard through their means.” This ought to be a great encouragement to us, and doubtless it will be. It is such an easy way of pleasing God and winning blessings for ourselves to make little compacts with the suffering souls that we will daily perform some indulgenced exercise for their relief, and that they in return will forward our particular intentions.

Prayer for the Holy Souls is a most fruitful devotion for all,


but especially for those who have lost some dear relation, some friend, or someone in whom they took an intense interest, and who they conjecture may still be detained in the purifying fire. Let me give a few words from the third of Lady Georgiana Fullerton’s letters about the “Helpers of the Holy Souls,” which relate to this subject:

“Amongst the Helpers of the Holy Souls,” she writes, “sev-eral have made great sacrifices to God in order to obtain mercy for souls long ago called away from this world. We can all imi-tate their example. ‘Oh, if it were not too late!’ is the cry of many a heart tortured by anxiety regarding the fate of some loved one who died apparently out of the Church, or not in the state of grace. We answer: It is never too late. Pray, work, suffer. The Lord foresaw your efforts. The Lord knew what was to come, and may have given to that soul at its last hour some extraordinary graces which snatched it from destruction and placed it in safety, where your love may still reach it, your prayers relieve, your sacrifices avail.”

Many religious orders have in all ages distinguished them-selves by their works of charity toward the poor, and have on this account received universal approbation; but the monks of Cluny have distinguished themselves by their suffrages for the souls of the faithful departed, for which they have received the commendation of the whole Catholic world. The circum-stance is related by Cardinal Baronius as follows: A revelation having been made to several servants of God that many souls were freed from Purgatory through the prayers of the monks of Cluny, who among all the faithful distinguished themselves in this holy exercise, their abbot, St. Odilo, about the year of Our Lord 1040, determined to promote this work of pre-eminent charity to a much greater extent. He therefore ordered that,


besides the ordinary suffrages and prayers which his monks daily offered for the purpose, the Holy Sacrifice should be offered on a certain fixed day in all the monasteries of his Order in behalf of these souls, which custom was afterwards taken up by the whole Church—the Commemoration of the Second of November being thereby instituted.

St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, conversing one day with his disciples, the subject turned on death, and each per-son was asked where and when he would like to end his days, supposing it were his fate to die away from his own country. Various were the answers. One person designated such a place and such a time, another a different time and place, each accord-ing to his peculiar views and line of reasoning. When it came to the Saint’s turn, he said that he would select the Monastery of Clairvaux, a place conspicuous for its love of rule and spirit of fervent charity; and as to the time, he would prefer the day of solemn Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed—to the end, he said, that he might share in the advantage of all the prayers offered on such an occasion in that abode of sanctity. Nor was he disappointed in his desire, for being on his way to visit the Sovereign Pontiff, Eugenius III, a short time after, he became seriously ill on arriving at Clairvaux and perceived that his end was approaching. Then, raising his eyes to Heaven in gratitude, he cried out with the Psalmist: “This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.”

On the morning of the 2nd of November the intensity of the fever increased to such a degree that death ensued, and his soul, released from its earthly prison, and accompanied by the fervent prayers of the monks and the faithful, and surrounded by a multitude of Holy Souls whom these suffrages had released from Purgatory, presented itself before the tribunal of Jesus


Christ to receive the crown of eternal glory.At the obsequies of St. Malachy, St. Bernard, offering a

Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of his holy friend, added to the Mass a Collect to implore the Divine assistance through his intercession, having been assured of his glory by Divine revelation during the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice.

THIRD DAY

A DAY OF PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER MOST IN PURGATORY

IT IS certain that a person’s sufferings in Purgatory are proportioned to his guilt; and as many are liable to depart this

life great debtors to the Divine Justice on account of numerous venial sins and carelessness in atoning for mortal sins, let us this day remember those who suffer most in that place of torments.

Were we to say that the suffering endured in Purgatory included all the torments arising from all bodily diseases, we should give a terrifying idea of their violence; but St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and other Fathers say that our conception would fall very short of the reality, since the torments endured there are incomparably greater than those of the most violent dis-eases, united with all that could be inflicted by every possible instrument of torture. When we read in Church history of what the holy martyrs have endured for the Faith, when we reflect on the torments which the cruelty of barbarians has invented to torture their fellow men, we shudder with horror, we tremble with alarm, and yet the pains of Purgatory, as was revealed to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, are incomparably greater.

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Do not say that you have no apprehension of Purgatory because those who are confined there are sure of being saved, for though this certainly is a source of indescribable consola-tion, it does not hinder the sufferings which they continually endure. You will easily conceive this if you consider that though the holy Soul of Our Blessed Lord enjoyed that glory which belonged to it from all eternity, yet this enjoyment in the supe-rior part did not prevent the inferior part from feeling in all their rigor the dreadful torments of His bitter Passion. “All that we can form an idea of,” says St. Augustine, “is nothing in com-parison to the pains of Purgatory; neither the eye has seen, nor the ear heard, anything like to them.” St. Thomas says: “The flames of Purgatory are of the same nature as those of Hell, and hence they act, not by a natural movement, but as instruments of the Divine Justice, which is, as it were, the fire of these fires, and endows them with a force which they intrinsically do not possess.”

It is to Purgatory we can best apply the words of Isaias: “The breath of the Lord as a torrent destroys the nations,” for as the breath of the Lord is the Holy Ghost, the substantial love of the Father and the Son, and as great love occasions great hatred to what is opposed to it, and great hatred great chastise-ments, this Holy Spirit Himself avenges sin; and as He is God, punishes it as God. Hence it is that all the torments inflicted by men could not equal those of Purgatory, for what would the efforts of creatures be to the omnipotence of God, which is here employed in punishing?

The Poor Souls so suffering are incapable of helping them-selves. On earth, even in the midst of our greatest trials, we can form no idea of such a state. The unfortunate being abandoned by all can sometimes still find in himself some resource, and if his right hand fail him can use the left; and should both be use-less, he can always take refuge in his heart, where God waits for


him. Each one of his sighs can become an act of love, each one of his pains a sacrifice, and his tears a treasure for eternity. But to suffer, and always to suffer, to weep tears of fire, and to feel that beneath the burning dew of these tears nothing but suffer-ings upon sufferings will come forth, until the hour marked by Divine Justice shall arrive; to be obliged to say, like a captive who can neither advance the hour of his deliverance nor open his prison door, “I can do nothing, nothing, to shorten the time of my trial”—such a state as this should certainly excite our compassion.

We have it in our power to help these suffering friends of God. We can do so by prayer, almsdeeds, the Holy Mass, and Indulgences, and to do so is certainly a work of mercy and char-ity. Understanding this full well, the Saints, without exception, have been most earnest and constant in their efforts to help them. Some of them have made this devotion one of the strong characteristics of their sanctity, and we venture to say that no truly devout or sincere Catholic neglects this spiritual work of mercy.

In Ireland this devotion has obtained a strong hold on the faithful, and whatever else the Irish may be wanting in, they cannot be accused of indifference toward their deceased friends. Even the very poor make many sacrifices in order to secure for their departed relatives, and others also, the special benefits of the Holy Mass. May the same enlightened piety ever remain firmly rooted in the hearts of our people, and may the day never come when they will cease to follow beyond the grave with tender solicitude the souls of those they loved in life.

In praying for the dead and gaining Indulgences for them, let us remember that every prayer we say, every sacrifice we make, every alms we give for the repose of the dear departed ones will all return upon ourselves in hundredfold blessings. They are God’s friends, dear to His Sacred Heart, living in

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His grace and in constant communion with Him; and though they may not alleviate their own sufferings, their prayers in our behalf always avail. They can aid us most efficaciously. God will not turn a deaf ear to their intercession. Being Holy Souls, they are grateful souls. The friends that aid them, they in turn will also aid. We need not fear praying to them in all faith and confidence. They will obtain for us the special favors we desire. They will watch over us lovingly and tenderly; they will guard our steps; they will warn us against evil; they will shield us in moments of trial and danger; and when our hour of purgatorial suffering comes, they will use their influence in our behalf to assuage our pains and shorten the period of our separation from the Godhead.

St. Malachy, having lost his sister by death, offered many fervent prayers and pious suffrages for her eternal repose. Having after some time desisted from doing so, he heard one night an unknown voice say to him that his sister waited outside the church and asked him for assistance. The Saint well under-stood what the needs of his sister were, and having resumed the pious exercises which he had discontinued, he saw her some time after at the entrance of the church in robes of mourning, and having a sad and disconsolate aspect. This vision caused him to redouble his prayers in her behalf, nor did he allow any day to pass without performing many acts of piety for her relief.

The soul on its next appearance had a less mournful garb and was inside the church, but durst not approach the altar. The Saint, having his confidence in the efficacy of his suffrages thus sustained, multiplied them even more than before, and did his utmost to satisfy the Divine Justice in her behalf. On her third appearance, he was consoled with the assurance that his pious intention had been effected. He saw her clad in garments


of dazzling brightness, and advancing to the altar surrounded by a joyous band of blessed spirits, thus signifying to her holy brother that she had obtained admission into Heaven.

The various states or stages in which this soul appeared teach us the ordinary economy of God’s providence—that He does not ordinarily liberate souls from Purgatory by an absolute act of His power and will, but exacts from them with the strict-est justice the full payment of their debt, ever accepting the suffrages of the faithful in their behalf—which succors are the more advantageous to these poor souls the more frequently and fervently they are offered.

FOURTH DAY

A DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE SOULS LONGEST IN PURGATORY

THE rigor of the purifying flames is so great that one moment of their endurance is more pain-inflicting than

many years of severe penance in this world. What, then, must not those Poor Souls have undergone who have spent the lon-gest time in that place of torture? Let us try today to alleviate their sufferings and abridge their exile.

We all expect, doubtless, or think ourselves sure, to go to Purgatory. If we do not think much of the matter at all, then we may have some vague notion of going straight to Heaven as soon as we are judged. But if we seriously reflect upon it—upon our own lives, upon God’s sanctity, upon what we read in books of devotion and the lives of the Saints—I can hardly conceive any one of us expecting to escape Purgatory, and not, rather,

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feeling that it must be almost a stretch of the Divine mercy which will get us even there.

Now, if we really expect that our road to Heaven will be through the punishments of Purgatory—for surely its purifica-tion is penal—it very much concerns us to know the views of this state that appear to prevail in the Church. These views agree that the pains are extremely severe, as well because of the office which God intends them to fulfill, as because of the disembodied soul being the subject of them. They agree, also, with regard to the length of the suffering. This requires to be dwelt upon, as it is hard to convince people of it, and a great deal comes of the conviction, both to ourselves and others.

This duration may be understood in two ways: 1) as of actual length of time; and 2) as of seeming length from the excess of pain. With regard to the first, if we look into the rev-elations of Sister Francesca of Pampeluna, we shall find among some hundreds of cases that by far the greater majority suffered thirty, forty, or sixty years. Here are some of the examples: A holy bishop, for some negligence in his high office, had been in Purgatory fifty-nine years before he appeared to the servant of God; another bishop, so generous of his revenues that he was named “the almsgiver,” had been there five years because he had wished for the dignity; a priest forty years because through his negligence some sick persons had died without the Sacraments; another forty-five years for inconsiderateness in his ministerial functions; a gentleman fifty-nine years for worldliness; another sixty-four for a fondness for playing at cards for money; another thirty-five years for worldliness.

Without multiplying instances, which it would be easy to do, these disclosures may teach us greater watchfulness over ourselves, and more unwearied perseverance in praying for the departed. The old foundations for perpetual Masses embody the same sentiment. We are apt to leave off too soon, imagining


with a foolish and unenlightened fondness that our friends are freed from Purgatory much sooner than they really are. If Sister Francesca beheld the souls of many fervent Carmelites, some of whom had wrought miracles during life, still in Purgatory ten, twenty, thirty, sixty years after their death, and yet not near their deliverance, as many told her, what must become of us and ours? Then, as to seeming length from the extremity of pain, there are many instances on record in the Chronicles of the Franciscans, the life of St. Francis Jerome, and elsewhere, of souls appearing an hour or two after death, and thinking they had been many years in Purgatory. Such may be the Purgatory of those who are caught up to meet the Lord at the Last Day.

We are also told that what we in the world call very trivial faults are most severely visited in Purgatory. St. Peter Damian gives us many instances of this, and others are collected and quoted by Bellarmine. Slight feelings of self-complacency, tri-fling inattentions in the recital of the Divine Office, and the like, occur frequently among them. Sister Francesca mentions the case of a girl of fourteen in Purgatory because she was not quite conformed to the will of God in dying so young. And one soul said to her: “Ah, men little think in the world how dearly they are going to pay here for faults they hardly note there!” She even saw souls that were immensely punished only for having been scrupulous in this life—either, I suppose, because there is mostly self-will in scruples, or because they did not lay them down when obedience commanded. Wrong notions about small faults may thus lead us to neglect the dead, or leave off our prayers too soon, as well as lose a lesson for ourselves.

Consider the helplessness of the Holy Souls. They lie like the paralytic at the pool. It would seem as if even the coming of the Angel were not an effectual blessing to them, unless there be some one of us to help them. Some have even thought they can-not pray. Anyhow, they have no means of making themselves

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heard by us on whose charity they depend. Some writers have said that Our Blessed Lord will not help them without our co-operation; and that Our Blessed Lady cannot help them except in indirect ways, because she is no longer able to make satisfac-tion, though I never like to hear of anything our dearest Mother cannot do, and I regard such statements with suspicion.

Another feature in their helplessness is the forgetfulness of the living or the cruel flattery of relations, who will always have it that those near or dear to them die the death of saints. They would surely have a scruple if they knew of how many Masses and prayers they rob the souls by the selfish exaggera-tion of their goodness. I call it selfish, for it is nothing more than a miserable device to console themselves in their sorrow. The very state of the Holy Souls is one of the most unbounded helplessness. They cannot do penance; they cannot merit; they cannot satisfy; they cannot gain indulgences; they have no Sacraments; they are not under the jurisdiction of God’s Vicar, overflowing with the plenitude of means of grace and manifold benedictions. They are a portion of the Church without either priesthood or altar at their own command.

How numerous are the lessons we may learn from these considerations, on our own behalf as well as on behalf of the Holy Souls! For ourselves, what light does all this throw on slovenliness, lukewarmness, and love of ease? What does it make us think of performing our devotions out of a mere spirit of formality or a trick of habit? What a change should it not work in our lives! What diligence in our examens, Confessions, Communions and prayers! It seems as if the grace of all graces for which we should be ever importuning our dear Lord would be to hate sin with something of the hatred wherewith He hated it in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Oh, is not the purity of God something awful, unspeakable, adorable? He who is Himself a simple act has gone on acting,


multiplying acts, since creation, yet He has incurred no stain! He is ever mingling with a most unutterable condescension with what is beneath Him—yet no stain! He loves His creatures with a love immeasurably more intense than the wildest pas-sions of earth—yet no stain! He is omnipotent, yet it is beyond the limits of His power to receive a stain. He is so pure that the very vision of Him causes eternal purity and blessedness. Mary’s purity is but a fair, thin shadow of it. Nay, the Sacred Humanity itself cannot adequately worship the purity of the Most High, and we, even we, are to dwell in His arms forever; we are to dwell amid the everlasting burnings of that Uncreated Purity! Yet, let us look at our lives; let us trace our hearts faithfully through but one day, and see of what mixed intentions, human respect, self-love and pusillanimous temper our actions—nay, even our devotions—are made up; and does not Purgatory, heated sevenfold and endured to the day of doom, seem but a gentle novitiate for the Vision of the All-Holy?

But we not only learn lessons for our own good, but for the good of the Holy Souls. We see that our chari-table attentions toward them must be far more vigorous and persevering than they have been; for that people go to Purgatory for very little matters, and remain there an unexpectedly long time. Their most touching appeal to us lies in their helplessness; and our dear Lord, with His usual loving arrangement, has made the extent of our power to help them more than commensurate with their inability to help themselves. We can make over to them, by way of suffrage, the indulgences we gain, provided the Church has made them applicable to the dead. We can limit and direct upon them the intention of the Adorable Sacrifice. We can give to them all the satisfactions of our ordinary actions and of our sufferings, and in many other ways we can help the suffering souls. —Father Faber

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It is related of a religious of St. Dominic that, finding him-self at the point of death, he earnestly begged a friend who was a priest to have the goodness, as soon as he was dead, to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the repose of his soul. He had scarcely expired when the priest went to the church and celebrated Mass with devotion for this intention. The Holy Sacrifice being over, he had scarcely taken off the sacred vest-ments when the deceased religious presented himself to him and rebuked him severely for his hardness of heart in leav-ing him in the most cruel fire of Purgatory for the long space of thirty years. “How thirty years?” asked the good priest, in amazement. “Why, it is not yet an hour since you departed this life, so that your corpse is, so to say, still warm.” To this the poor soul replied: “Learn hence, my friend, how tormenting is the fire of Purgatory when scarcely an hour seems to be thirty years, and learn, too, to have pity on us.”

FIFTH DAY

A DAY OF PRAYER FOR DECEASED PARENTS AND RELATIVES

IT SHOULD seem unnecessary to urge you to pray fervently for those to whom you owe so much. Nature, reason,

religion, all loudly claim your suffrages in their behalf.

Hope is alternately the support and torture of the human heart. None have such assured ground for hope as the souls in Purgatory, and none at the same time experience so intensely the opposite effects of this potent sentiment. The object of their hope is God Himself, who promises and gives Himself as


the recompense of the just; and if the assurance of having their present sufferings so gloriously rewarded imparted to the Saints an unutterable joy in the midst of trials and adversities, how much more consoled and fortified must not the Holy Souls feel, even in their prison of dolors, from the thought that God will shortly assuage their sufferings and reward them with unspeak-able delights! Why do we not in the trials of life also raise our eyes to Heaven, and accustom ourselves to bear patiently our crosses, which, if so borne, shall be rewarded with eternal glory in Paradise?

Hope consoles us in proportion as it is the more assured. Who, then, can express the consolation the Holy Souls derive from their certainty of possessing God hereafter? They read in the decrees of God that they are the elect of His eternal kingdom. Calling to mind the promises of Jesus Christ, and being in pos-session of His grace, they cannot for a moment doubt that they are to be the coheirs of His happiness and glory. They consider their deeds of justice, and expect with unwavering confidence the crown of immortality with which the Lord, the Just Judge, shall reward their merits. Their hope is so solidly based on this triple foundation that it not only does not admit of doubt or fear, but has all the force of immediate and absolute possession.

But although the suffering souls are thus assured of pos-sessing God, He still defers communicating Himself to them until they shall have been completely freed from every stain of sin. He wills also that this very delay should increase the ardor of their desires. Thus, on the one hand the certainty of their hope sustains and fortifies them, while the delay of possession, on the other hand, afflicts them, and those very desires which are the food and life of their hope serve to afflict and torture them most keenly. The more exalted the object of their hope, the more painful in proportion is their punishment, and its vio-lence increases with the intensity of their love. “I speak not,”


says St. Austin, “to those that are cold and insensible, but give me a heart that aspires to the Sovereign Good, and it will feel the meaning of my words.”

One great advantage arising from the thought of Purgatory is that it inspires with a spirit of penance and self-denial; for it reminds us that Divine Justice, though severe, is not blind, and never punishes the same fault twice, since if expiation is made in this world, it will not be required in the next. Knowing that justice so inflexible and unrelenting in Purgatory is easily disarmed here on earth, we naturally feel an earnest desire to escape the terrible fire of Purgatory, which can only punish sins unexpiated, and consequently we take care to leave few stains to be cleansed away hereafter.

God in His infinite goodness affords us the opportunity of paying the debt contracted by a deliberate act by means of a voluntary satisfaction, and only chastises us in the other world because we have not had the courage to punish ourselves in this. Our interest, therefore, lies in forestalling His judgments and justice by self-imposed penances, for however severe they may be, they fall far short of those of Purgatory. This thought fills the soul with a holy courage to embrace mortification and penance generously, saying: “Better settle now my accounts with God; better take advantage of His mercy to satisfy His justice; better pay my debts now while I can do so easily. This is my resolve and firm determination.”

Another advantage arising from the thought of Purgatory is that it renders us more patient and courageous in bearing the trials and sufferings of this life, and teaches us to look upon them as means given us by God in His Divine mercy to make up for what is wanting in our penances, and thus escape the terri-ble expiation of Purgatory. Happy are they that understand this


truth; not only will they receive the crosses Divine Providence sends them with resignation, but even with joy and gratitude, regarding them as signal marks of the goodness of Our Lord, as golden coins with which to pay a portion of their debts. No matter what may be the nature and duration of their sufferings, they learn to endure them peacefully, always remembering that thereby they acquire great merit. “But,” says Fénelon, “human nature seeks to escape Purgatory both here and hereafter, with this result: that it renders useless our satisfaction here below, and we have after death still to endure the pains of Purgatory. Were we now, like the Holy Souls, to remain peaceful and patient in the hands of God, we should be purified by the fire of His love.”

Let us not forget that the trials and sufferings of this life are a real Purgatory, and that the soul weighed down by the cross is as truly purified as are the souls in Purgatory by its cleansing flames. But if we repine and murmur against God by impatience, we only render ourselves more guilty in His sight, and abuse the precious gift of suffering He bestows upon us to expiate sin. Let us, then, suffer as the Saints suffered, as the souls in Purgatory suffer, and our sufferings will have the double advantage of purifying us and enabling us to gain merit.

The habitual remembrance of Purgatory keeps up the fer-vor of the just, rendering them more watchful over themselves, more attentive in the fulfillment of all their duties toward God, their neighbor, and themselves, more careful in the perfor-mance of the most trifling actions, in purifying their intention, and always acting for the greater glory of God.

Finally, the thought of Purgatory inspires us with charity for the Holy Souls detained there. The remembrance of their sufferings fills us with tender compassion for them, which quickly manifests itself in giving them aid and relief, in praying for them, in offering acts of self-denial in their favor, and mak-ing use of all the means at our disposal to relieve them. Their


interests become ours in a certain manner; their sufferings, if I may so speak, become ours; the agony of their separation from God creates within us a holy impatience to open for them the gates of their heavenly country. Thus do we, even unconsciously to ourselves, practice the virtue of charity in the most perfect and heroic degree, and, whilst thinking we are only working for others, enrich ourselves with abundant merits; while paying the debts of the souls to whom we are devoted, we at the same time discharge our own, since charity is the most excellent of all virtues, making up before God for all the rest. Therefore, those who practice it toward the dead, far from losing, gain by it, God in a wonderful manner rewarding those who help His friends.

THE WAITING SOULS

They are waiting for our petitions, Silent and calm;Their lips no prayer can utter, No suppliant psalm.We have made them all too weary, With long delay;For the souls in their still agony Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.

For the souls thou holdest dearest, Let prayers arise;The voice of love is mighty, And will pierce the skies.Waste not in selfish weeping One precious day,But speeding thy love to Heaven, Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.


For the soul by all forgotten, Even its own—By its nearest and its dearest, Left all alone—Whisper a De Profundis, Or gently layAlms in some poor one’s outstretched palm, Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.

For the soul that is nearest Heaven, That sees the gateEven now ajar, and the light within, And yet must wait,Ere the Angels come to convoy it, In bright array;For the eager soul so near to joy, Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.

For the soul that most loved Our Lady, For Our Lady’s love,Speed with thy supplications To its home above;And our Mother in benediction Her hand will layTenderly on thy bowed down head. Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.

For the love of the Heart of Jesus— They love it too—By all sweet home affections That once they knew,As thou hopest in thy utmost need To find thy stay


In the prayers of those who loved thee once, Pray—fervently pray: Requiescant in pace.

There are few souls, even of the just, who directly after this life pass immediately to the eternal joys of Heaven. Even the imperfections of the Saints have to be cleansed by fire. The following example, related by St. Peter Damian, will serve to prove this: St. Severinus, Archbishop of Cologne, was a prelate of such extraordinary sanctity that God vouchsafed to distin-guish him by remarkable miracles. After his death the Saint appeared one day to a canon of Cologne Cathedral in a small branch of the Rhine, in which he stood plunged up to the waist. The Canon asked him why he stood there in the water—as on account of his extraordinary sanctity he ought to be reigning gloriously in Heaven. “If you wish to know,” replied the Saint, “give me your hand, in order that you may understand the pain which I suffer, not by hearing of it, but by touch.” Then, having seized his hand, he dipped it gently into the water. Though he drew it rapidly out, so great was the heat that he felt from it that the flesh fell off scorched, and the bare bones held together by the joints were in great pain. Then the Saint said: “I do not suf-fer this great torment for anything more than for having recited the Canonical Hours hastily and with distraction. For while I was counsellor in the Emperor’s court, having a great deal of business, I did not recite the Divine Office at the proper hours or with devotion. This is my own fault.” Then, begging the Canon to join with him in prayer to obtain the cure of his hand, and beseeching him to obtain his own liberation from such great sufferings by the suffrage of prayers, alms and Masses, he suddenly disappeared, leaving the priest miraculously cured and full of fear of God’s judgments.

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A DAY OF FERVENT PRAYER THAT MANY SOULS IN PURGATORY … · that day, joined with the prayers of all the Church Triumphant, might avail much to the relief of the Suffering Church;